Speed. Routes should be direct, instead of cutting labyrinthine paths across a city. Fare payment needs to be fast and easy, via off-board fare collection or tap-and-go entry at every door. Transit can’t get bogged down in traffic, either, so features like dedicated space on the street and priority at traffic lights are needed to keep things moving.Frequency and Reliability. People won’t ride transit if they can’t depend on it…Walkability and Accessibility. Transit works best when people can walk to it. That means both concentrating transit in compact, walkable places, and making it easier to walk to transit in places where pedestrian infrastructure is lacking…On the Dublin buses you can pay your fare with a tap card. Passengers can walk past the farebox next to the driver to tap the card reader and not wait behind cash paying riders to dig out their money.

Brightline this week heralded a milestone — arrival of its second train — and at the same time announced an apparent setback: When passenger service commences in July it will be even more limited than previously announced.

Instead of carryingpassengers between West Palm Beach and MiamiCentral, a sprawling downtown-Miami rail station with commercial, retail and residential space, Brightline in late July will begin service only between Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.

Service is to expand to Miami in late August, when work on MiamiCentral is complete, according to Brightline. Stations in West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale are “nearing completion,” Brightline said in a news release.

The project’s second phase, full service to Orlando, is at least several years away, with service commencing in 2019 at the earliest, the company estimated in January. On Monday, Brightline said it is “currently finalizing permitting and will have a better idea of timing to Orlando after operations begin this summer.”

The project has faced opposition from Treasure Coast residents who say the railroad would endanger the public and the environment. It is facing lawsuits by Martin and Indian River counties.

Meanwhile, BrightPink, Brightline’s second completed passenger train, on Monday afternoon rolled through the Treasure Coast on the final leg of its trip from California to the railroad’s maintenance facility in West Palm Beach.

The four-car, two-locomotive train — named for its vivid hue — passed through Vero Beach at 3:45 p.m. and Stuart at 4:25 p.m. The passenger railroad’s first train, BrightBlue, was delivered Dec. 14, but rolled through the region in the early-morning hours.

BrightPink and BrightBlue are the first in Brightline’s five-train fleet that will run along the Florida East Coast Railway tracks, eventually between Miami and Orlando.

BrightRed, BrightOrange and BrightGreen are to be delivered from manufacturer Siemens’ Sacramento plant every six weeks, with all five trains assembled in West Palm Beach by early July, according to Michael Cahill, president, Rail Systems Division.

Brightline said it will hold a grand opening and official launch of the railroad in September.

In 2021, Amtrak will start rolling out 28 high-speed trains for its Acela Express service along the Northeast corridor.

Here’s everything you need to know about them:

Amtrak is releasing the high-speed trains as part of its $2.45 billion investment in the Northeast Corridor.

The majority of that federal loan ($2 billion to be exact) will go toward the new trains, while the rest will fund improvements to the tracks and train stations along the route.

Amtrak is contracting with Alstom — the creator of France’s high-speed rail, the TGV — to create the high-speed trains. The TGV operates at 200 mph.

The new trains will be 30% lighter, cutting down on energy consumption by 20%, Amtrak said.

They will initially operate at 160 mph, but have the ability to reach 186 mph, Amtrak said. However, your overall trip time isn’t bound to improve.

Without major improvements to the physical railroad tracks, the trains won’t be able to reach their high-speed potential, Mark Yachmetz, senior vice president for Amtrak’s fleet and rail initiatives, told Business Insider.

That’s because the Northeast Corridor, first built in 1976 and given minor improvements over time, can only accommodate speeds under 100 mph in most areas. Some areas of the track can’t accommodate speeds above 25 mph.

As a result, trip times will remain largely the same.

Still, the project will improve the Amtrak travel experience in some ways. Releasing 28 more trains will allow for half-hourly service between Washington, DC, and New York during peak hours, and hourly service between New York and Boston.

The trains will also increase passenger capacity by 35%.

And the interiors are getting an upgrade, too. Updated features include improved Wi-Fi, adjustable reading lights, more USB ports, more outlets, and better food service.

The prototype of the high-speed train will be ready in 2019, with some rolling out for service in 2021. By 2022, all 28 trains will be operating.

Contrary to popular belief, Yellowstone National Park is not a drive through wildlife safari or petting zoo. The animals will bite, gore and tear you to shreds if you pet them while taking a selfie.

I’ve spent 2 summers working at Canyon Lodge and Lake Lodge engaging with hundreds of visitors per day. I haven’t seen it all, but I’ve seen a lot. I’ve seen a father put his 2 year old on the back of a bison laying down for a photo op, cars with all four doors open stopped in the middle of the road with the passengers all taking pictures of the mamma bear and cubs 20 ft away, tourists trying to pet the newborn elk with the mother charging towards them, visitors doing handstands off trail on the edge of the very unstable Grand Canyon, families who yell at me…

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Technically it’s Churchill Place, Isle of Dogs, London … but Canary Wharf is more well know.

To the left of the photograph is a large Waitrose store. The center where the long neon strips is a small shopping center that has a Barclays bank branch, and Rocket which from memory I think is a restaurant. And on the right, well it’s actually one car that was moving a the same time I was taking the panorama … Interesting effect !

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